Quest Partners LLC Acquires New Stake in Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA)

Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lear Co. (NYSE:LEA - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 10,284 shares of the auto parts company's stock, valued at approximately $1,175,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LEA. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Lear during the 1st quarter worth $29,000. Riverview Trust Co bought a new position in Lear in the 1st quarter worth $32,000. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division bought a new stake in shares of Lear during the first quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Isthmus Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Lear by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Isthmus Partners LLC now owns 64,398 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $74,000 after purchasing an additional 1,336 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda bought a new stake in shares of Lear during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $75,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.04% of the company's stock.

Lear Trading Down 4.8 %

LEA stock traded down $5.28 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $104.89. 1,110,934 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 638,785. The business's 50 day moving average price is $115.40 and its 200-day moving average price is $125.55. Lear Co. has a 52-week low of $103.12 and a 52-week high of $147.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.96 billion, a PE ratio of 11.44, a P/E/G ratio of 0.36 and a beta of 1.45.

Lear (NYSE:LEA - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The auto parts company reported $3.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.34 by $0.26. Lear had a net margin of 2.30% and a return on equity of 14.75%. The company had revenue of $6.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.02 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.33 EPS. The company's revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Lear Co. will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Lear Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be paid a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.94%. Lear's dividend payout ratio is 33.59%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on LEA. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Lear in a report on Thursday, September 5th. They set a "peer perform" rating on the stock. Barclays reduced their price objective on Lear from $155.00 to $150.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Lear from $160.00 to $150.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. StockNews.com raised Lear from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on Lear from $141.00 to $127.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Lear has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $151.40.

Lear Company Profile

Lear Corporation designs, develops, engineers, manufactures, assembles, and supplies automotive seating, and electrical distribution systems and related components for automotive original equipment manufacturers in North America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and South America. Its Seating segment offers seat systems, seat subsystems, keyseat components, seat trim covers, seat mechanisms, seat foams, and headrests, as well as surface materials, such as leather and fabric for automobiles and light trucks, compact cars, pick-up trucks, and sport utility vehicles.